This stand-up comic is back to cause more havoc on the music panel show. Only on Sky Max and NOW.

Never Mind the Buzzcocks is back - and so are the shenanigans, led by the team captains and panellist Jamali Maddix.

Always armed with a quick comeback and a so-so knowledge of music, he’s Noel Fielding’s right-hand man on the show… and is always up for causing chaos.

But the question is: has he swotted up on his music knowledge ahead of the boyband/girlband specials? And how will he handle the iconic Courtney Love as she makes an appearance this series?

Speaking ahead of the new series, Jamali Maddix talks about the show’s return, his thoughts on the guest captains, and why he has beef with Rod Stewart.

Too excited! I enjoy doing the show and it’s nice to see Greg and Noel again.

Do you know what? I think the reason why it’s able to go and carry on, is down to Greg because I think he made the show his. It’s not like they just tried to do exactly what they used to do on the BBC, which was a sick show, but they’re not just trying to make a carbon copy of it. They’ve made it into this new unique show but within the format of what that show once was. You know what I mean? I think Greg’s taken it and made it his own.

Yes, I think, because we’ve done nearly 40 episodes together, that’s a lot of time! And it’s three hours of recording for each episode. So, you spend a lot of time with each other and you sort of know what other peoples’ angles are and you can bounce off of stuff. So yes, I think there was that natural chemistry already, which is good, because sometimes it doesn’t go like that. But I think we hit lucky with each other.

Oh no, we were pushing buttons from day one! I don’t need to know you to push buttons, that’s all good! I don’t think it was like, “Oh, yeah. I know him more, so I can say this to him.” I was saying horrible s*t to them from day one, and they were saying horrible s\*t to me. I think that’s why fans love it!

Some people stop me in the street and on the whole, mostly, it’s great. The nice thing is there’s people coming to my tours from watching Buzzcocks. That’s how I gauge it, I guess.

The cool gang? I think I’m lifting a lot of that weight! Greg has never been part of the cool gang, bruv. I don’t know what you’re talking about!

I don’t really have celeb mates, I’m sorry to disappoint you! My friends are bums, man. I don’t have no celeb mates. I need some celeb mates. That’s what I need to do, I need to start moving in celeb circles and that!

Oh, it’s way better. When we started the show, the time we were in, COVID was that weird thing where it felt normal. But it’s only when it’s gone back to actual normality, you realise how surreal that was. Because we were in boxes and had screens between us. I think about it now and I can’t imagine making a TV show like that again. It’s crazy. I think really the audience is there to create an atmosphere.

She’s funny, man. It’s the first time I’ve worked with her. I knew she did stand-up, but I’ve never worked with her doing stand-up either. So, it’s nice to work with her on Buzzcocks. She fitted into the speed of the show so well, and I think she definitely brings an energy to it, so it’s nice having her, for sure.

Sophie and Daisy are both equally as competitive. I’m not that competitive, I mean, I do cheat a bit, but that’s just fun! You’ve got to cheat a bit! I’m still doing that at any opportunity I can get, really. But they’re locking it down now because I thought, “Ah, it’s just a TV show,” but they really get upset if I do cheat. So, I’ve just got to be more sly about it now.

Greg really doesn’t like it when I cheat. He’s always accusing me of cheating. If I get something right, he thinks I’ve cheated.

They tried to get me in a Britney wig, that wasn’t happening! I don’t want to wear a wig. I don’t want to be a meme for the rest of my life. You just do one thing in it, and it becomes a GIF forever.

They offered me a grand to do it and I said, “No.” Cash, as well. But you say that and then the tax man’s going to ask for some of it. You know what I mean? My agent’s then going to come knocking and I’m left with £300 and now I’m a laughing stock. No, man. You keep it!

Do you know what? My little sister watched it on repeat, so it’s just burned into my head now. I wasn’t a Bob The Builder fan. I was never into the music or Bob The Builder, but it’s sort of just imprinted in my head. It’s weird that I didn’t know I remembered that song. But it’s just one of them things that’s just somewhere in my brain.

I ended up singing that with Jordan North on the show because one of the questions was about the song. Even as I was singing, I was like, “Why the f**k do I know this? Why is this in my head?”

Yes! I did a corporate gig with him and he was a piece of s**t! No, he was all right. It was just heckling. He was just drunk and heckling. I did give him some s**t back but he was on home turf.

It was a corporate gig, I wasn’t there for artistic reasons, so I was just like, “Okay. All right.” I don’t really like his music anyway. I never had that, “It’s Rod Stewart!” I recognised who it was but I don’t give a s**t.

There’s some people I was happy to meet. I’ve been listening to DJ Target spinning for years because I grew up listening to grime, so it was cool meeting him. It was cool meeting Megaman from So Solid Crew, because I used to have all the tapes of So Solid Crew before they were big, and my dad used to have them. I like Courtney Love too.

Yes, she’s just mad! That’s so rock, man. I loved it. She’s just everything you wanted and more. There was a lot of banter between her and Noel because they go way back.

She was cool! So competitive to the point where I had to pull out the buzzer and show her that it wasn’t connected, because it’s not really a game show. It’s a TV show. People come on the show and they think it’s real but there’s no prize. It’s not really a game show, but people think it’s a game show. So she was trigger-happy. It’s funny, the guests really care about the points but it doesn’t equate to anything! But she was fun, I think she had a good time.

I don’t really know that deep, niche knowledge right there. I really don’t know that much about Liberty X, in fact.

Nah, I know stuff about music, I just don’t really know about pop music. My music knowledge is more niche, I guess. Sort of more particular!

We’ll have a drink after the show sometimes, but not really wild night outs. The records are long and a lot of people in the chair are in their forties, they just want to go home! People have kids! Noel used to be out but this ain’t 20 years ago, man. This is 2024, bruv. Man’s got kids and needs to get up and make the kids their breakfasts. He ain’t got time to go have beers and that. We do the show, might hang out for a beer and that, but mostly just go home.

Yes, it was nice to have Daisy back. And I saw her baby and that. It’s not a crazy show, saying that, Greg was a Christmas angel! He dressed up as an angel and was on strings, and rose up while we were sticking our heads through holes to make up a Christmas picture,

I was baby Jesus. Baby Jesus with a vape. And Noel was a donkey and Daisy was Mary! Daisy was excited to be back, I guess it’s one of those things of, you do a job for so long and then you don’t do it one year. It always feels like there’s a party and you ain’t there.

Yes, I’d go back. I mean you never know. As long as people watch it and people enjoy it. If people want to see me back, I’ll come back. When you do this for a job, you seem to forget it’s a job. I’ve got bills, I’ve got responsibilities.

Sometimes you do jobs and you go, “Ah, fk me. It’s just a job”, and you’ve got to just fking do it. But I don’t feel like that with this show. I enjoy coming to work. I enjoy seeing people. I enjoy seeing the crew. So the reason I keep on doing it is because I genuinely have fun, when I think a lot of time in this business you do jobs because you’ve got all those other things going on and you’re kind of counting down until it’s over.

Not really TV-wise. I guess more stand-up. I want to try and get a special done at some point. That’s on hold because I’m touring, actually. So I’m really just focusing on stand-up. And that’s another good thing about the show is the time scale, we do a lot in a small space of time, so it’s not like it takes a year to make it.

I don’t tour in summer! To ask people to come and sit in the room when it’s hot outside is a bit of a big ask. I mean, I want to be outside for summer. If it fits in time wise, I’d do it, yes!